"Unbroken," Movie About Zamperini, Is Due for Christmas 2014

The book about 1936 Olympian and WWII hero sold 3.5 million copies.

“Unbroken,” the story of 1936 Olympic distance runner Louis Zamperini, a World War II veteran who survived 47 days adrift at sea and brutal internments as a prisoner of war, is set to hit movie theaters at Christmas of 2014. Plans to bring Zamperini’s saga to the screen trace as far back as 1957, when Tony Curtis was on tap to play the protagonist. Fifty-seven years later, Zamperini’s saga, produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, will finally be in movie theaters.

Zamperini, 96, was a national sensation when he took up running in high school, earned a scholarship to Southern Cal and went on to become an Olympic 5000-meter runner at age 19. He was eighth in the Berlin Olympic final, and he set a national collegiate mile record of 4:12 in 1938. Future prospects seemed limitlessly bright, but World War II led to the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics.

Running is actually a relatively small part of the narrative of “Unbroken,” the book by Laura Hillenbrand, author of “Seabiscuit.” It’s largely a chronicle of Zamperini’s protracted struggle of survival at sea and as a POW. The detail Hillenbrand supplies is abundant, which only serves to make the story’s outcome all the more moving. The book has sold 3.5 million copies and has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 145 weeks.

In a press statement reported at Movieweb.com, Jolie said, “It will be hard to make a film worthy of this great man. I am deeply honored to have the chance and will do all I can to bring Louis Zamperini’s inspiring story to life. Everyone involved in the film shares this deep responsibility.”

“I am a fan who has learned so much," she said. "He has made me a better person."

Jolie and Zamperini are neighbors in the Hollywood hills. Zamperini has given the actress/director/producer a golden running shoe pendant, a keepsake from one of his early races, which she plans to wear daily during filming in Australia. Zamperini will be played by Jack O'Connell, a little-known British actor who spent much time with the movie’s subject, listening to accounts of his life.